Legal deposit lacuna

Publishers in the UK (and this includes otherwise "self-published" books published via Amazon, Lulu or similar services) are legally required to supply to the British Library a copy of the "best edition" within a month of publication. They are also required to supply a copy to each of five other libraries (the Bodleian Library, the Cambridge University Library, the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and Trinity College Dublin Library) but these only on request (within a year of publication).

However, there is a lacuna in that there is no real sanction. The only sanction, under section 3 of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, is that the library can demand a copy, in default of which it can sue for the costs of getting a copy by alternate means.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/28/section/3

This is a sufficient sanction for the libraries other than the British Library which have to request copies. It is not sufficient for the British Library as an awful lot of published material never comes to their attention (and so they wouldn't enforce the obligation) so will not be part of the National Published Archive. I think for the British Library (not the other libraries) a more stringent sanction like a fine or an injunction is needed.

In particular, an awful lot of books published via Amazon never reach the British Library, and as such (even if a few copies are actually sold) they are not archived for posterity. There needs to be a way to ensure they are, either by requiring Amazon to send a copy or by a sanction on the author for not sending a copy, or at least requiring it goes in the e-book database so it can be seen on request at special terminals in all six legal deposit libraries (and various other libraries in Oxford and Cambridge).

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